EON

Toddlers who are overweight or obese may have rapidly gained weight within their first six months of life, says a new report from Harvard researchers, who tracked 559 children through Project Viva, which is a continuing study of pregnant women and their children. All children’s height and weight measurements were recorded at birth, at six months, and at three years of age, and after individual length was taken into consideration, researchers determined that those babies with increased body-mass index during the first six months were likely to be obese by age three.

The author of the study, Dr. Elsie Taveras, says, “”We need to start our preventive methods when children are much younger.” The National Institutes of Health say that nearly one-third of all adults in the United States are obese, which means they are ten to fifty percent more likely to die from all causes.

Connie Diekman, the director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, says, “The key indication for this study is the importance of better education about feeding infants. Since the study did not look at what children were fed after weaning, it is hard to know if overfeeding then is a contributor.”